thecoinhunter
New member
oldmancrash,
Thanks for your response, Bud Guthery's shop was at his house north of the highway west of Helena. He showed me some of the nuggets he had found in the old bucket line dredge tailing's around the Helena area. He let me hold one that was about 8 ounces. It was the size of one of those "motel size" bars of soap. It wasn't quite rectangle but, had a small stinger of quartz running diagonally through it. Also, if you are there in Helena during the week, Bud has a gold nugget display at the bank, but I can't remember the name of the bank maybe Federal -------? He also had "Fred", his 58 ounce gold in quartz specimen he had found in Arizona in that display too. Anyway, most of the dredge tailing's are on private ground and you'll have to get permission to detect in or around them. The trammels on those dredges had punch plate barrels with 5/8 to 3/4 inch holes that allowed the ore to go into the sluice boxes. Everything larger than the holes went out on the tailing's pile. So the bigger nuggets are still there to be found by the lucky detectorist! I don't know if his shop is still open, I haven't been up in the Helena area for quite a few years. Bud is a really great guy, a little slow to " warm up" to strangers but, when you get to know him he really is a wealth of knowledge. It always helps to buy something in the store to help the process! Most owners aren't going to give "free" information without a customer buying something, go figure!
Well I've got to go now.
thecoinhunter
Thanks for your response, Bud Guthery's shop was at his house north of the highway west of Helena. He showed me some of the nuggets he had found in the old bucket line dredge tailing's around the Helena area. He let me hold one that was about 8 ounces. It was the size of one of those "motel size" bars of soap. It wasn't quite rectangle but, had a small stinger of quartz running diagonally through it. Also, if you are there in Helena during the week, Bud has a gold nugget display at the bank, but I can't remember the name of the bank maybe Federal -------? He also had "Fred", his 58 ounce gold in quartz specimen he had found in Arizona in that display too. Anyway, most of the dredge tailing's are on private ground and you'll have to get permission to detect in or around them. The trammels on those dredges had punch plate barrels with 5/8 to 3/4 inch holes that allowed the ore to go into the sluice boxes. Everything larger than the holes went out on the tailing's pile. So the bigger nuggets are still there to be found by the lucky detectorist! I don't know if his shop is still open, I haven't been up in the Helena area for quite a few years. Bud is a really great guy, a little slow to " warm up" to strangers but, when you get to know him he really is a wealth of knowledge. It always helps to buy something in the store to help the process! Most owners aren't going to give "free" information without a customer buying something, go figure!
Well I've got to go now.
thecoinhunter